Field
The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for water and resource management. More specifically, the systems and methods of the present disclosure provide for advantageous water harvesting and recycling.
Description of the Related Art
Fresh water is a precious resource and is necessary for the survival of humans and other life forms. Approximately 97 percent of Earth's water is salt water located in the oceans. Only about 3 percent of Earth's water is fresh. Of that 3 percent, 75 percent is found in the masses of ice near the poles. A minute amount is found in the atmosphere as water vapor. Less than 1 percent of the water on this planet is generally available for human use.
In semi-arid regions, such as Southern California, the fresh drinking water supply is reaching a critical point. In Southern California, for example, the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. As of December 2008, the MWD's water supply reserves were at approximately 1,770,000 acre-feet. A natural process of recharging generally replaces underground water with surface water when water enters an aquifer (an underground layer of rock or soil that holds water) from the surface. Too often, the MWD's water supply reserves reaches dangerously low levels and serious concerns exist about whether the water supply can be sufficiently recharged given current demands.
In other words, at current demand levels, combined natural and man-made water delivery systems are proving inadequate. This is particularly true in areas such as the western United States where persistent drought conditions only increase the difficulty of replenishing supplies of fresh water. This situation is not limited to Southern California, but is increasingly common in growing numbers of population centers around the world.
Recent data on the water usage of single-family residences suggest that nearly three-quarters of residential water is used for landscape and exterior purposes. Such data has caused local water districts to focus on reducing the amount of fresh water used for residential landscape purposes.
In typical residential landscape drainage systems, extra landscape water is captured in 3-inch drains spaced approximately 12 to 15 feet apart. Most of the water that is not captured by the drains passes through the permeable soil below, until it reaches an aquifer. The water captured by the drains is often sent through a drainage system that flows into a curbside gutter. That water then travels along the street gutter and combines with other residential overflows. The original landscape runoff water, possibly mixed with pesticides and fertilizer, combines, for example, with chlorine water overflows from neighborhood swimming pools and/or water overflows from car washing. As the flow of water continues, bacteria are introduced, such as from garbage cans that sit in the gutters. Too frequently, such water and associated material flows to storm drains and into ecologically sensitive areas, particularly wetlands and oceans.
Water districts have considered some ideas for reducing the dirty water runoff. One is a system that slows down the flow of runoff water and uses natural filters before the runoff proceeds to enter environmentally sensitive areas. One such experimental program diverts water from local creeks into reconstructed wetlands for a period of 7-10 days. Plants and soils can then naturally remove some fraction of the nitrates and other pollutants from the runoff water, whereupon the water returns to the creek and flows onward. The use of natural filters may result in somewhat cleaner runoff water entering bays, oceans, and other bodies of water or sensitive areas, but such systems are expensive to build and have environmental implications for the ecosystems in which they are “naturally” filtered.
Other existing systems involve complicated methods of treating sewer water, and require new systems of pipes to deliver such treated water to households. The complexity and associated cost of such systems has been prohibitive.
Systems for draining and directing water are not new, and the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,426 issued to DeCoster et al. is typical of such systems, which generally operate by collecting water at a drain located at a low spot on a terrain surface area and routing or directing water via drain pipes, sometimes into holding tanks. Such systems, however, fail to address the significant loss and runoff of water that is used for irrigation and watering and do little, if anything to reduce the large demand for fresh water for such purposes.
Controllers that automate aspects of irrigations systems are also well known, and the irrigation controller in U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,285 issued to Addink, et al. is typical. However, such irrigation controllers have not heretofore used or disclosed the advantageous features of the systems and methods in accordance with the present invention.